Locking slider for slide fasteners



Dec. 5, 1967 w. ELSENHEKMER 3,

LOCKING SLIDER FOR SLIDE FASTENERS Filed Dec. 12, 1966 M2 aw ma FIG.'7

FIG. 6

FIG-.5

INVENTOR CHARLES H! EL SENHE/MER 6T TORNE Y United States Patent M3,355,778 LOCKING SLIDER FOR SLIDE FASTENERS Charles W. Elsenheimer,Merid'en, C0nn., assignor to Prentice Corporation, Kensington, Conn., acorporation of Connecticut Filed Dec. 12, 1966, Ser. No. 600,810 Claims.(Cl. 24205.14)

This invention relates to separable fasteners of the slide operated typeand more particularly to an improved automatic lock slider for suchfasteners.

In automatic lock sliders or the type of the present invention, theslider has in the past been automatically locked by a cam, or a loosepawl, or a spring biased locking member, all of which are usuallycontrolled by a pull tab for moving the slider in the opening or closingdirections. These various types of locking means are often complicatedin structure and therefore costly to make. If the locking member isspring operated, or of the loose lug type, there are usually requiredadditional parts on the lug to which the pull tab is attached, therebyproviding the slider structure with a high silhouette. On the otherhand, certain loose lug types are located on the exteriors of the sliderbodies, and the cams in cam operated locks are usually provided on thepull tabs. All of such types of slide structures are destructive of thematerial of the garments to which they are attached during the pressingof such garments. This is especially true with respect to pants anduniforms provided with fasteners having automatic lock sliders. Theseautomatic lock sliders have therefor been a serious problem to theindustrial laundry field and while the art has endeavored to provideautomatic sliders which would be free of the aforesaid disadvantages, ithas not been able as yet to produce such a slider which is completelysatisfactory both to the slide manufacturer, to the laundry company andto the user.

The primary purpose of the instant invention is to provide an improvedautomatic lock slider which is free of the aforesaid disadvantages.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic lock sliderwhich has a silhouette of minimum height and which has no protrudingparts capable of damaging clothing during pressing operations.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatic lock sliderwhich is of such exceedingly simple design that it can be made at costnot substantially greater than a non-locking slider.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved sliderwhich can be utilized etiher as a nonlocking slider, or an automaticallylocking slider, and

which can be readily made as one type or the other during the assemblyof the parts thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, as well as the novelfeatures of construction thereof, will appear from a perusal of thefollowing description when read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a fastenerequipped with the slider of this invention and with the pull tab inraised position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the body of the slider;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the locking member of the slider;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the pull tab of the slider;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the slider with the pull tabin the down or depending position;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are views similar to FIG. 5 and show the condition of theparts when the pull tab is in the position in which it is gripped formoving the slider, and when the pull tab is in its fully raisedposition, respectively.

3,355,778 Patented Dec. 5, 1967 In FIG. 1 of the drawings there is showna portion of the fastener stringers 10 having the usual interlockingmembers 11 secured to the opposed edges thereof. As is conventional, themembers 11 have projections 12 which engage recesses thereon (not shown)to lock such members in interfingered relation. The engagement anddisengagement of the interlocking members 11 are controlled in the usualmanner by the longitudinal movements of a slider body composed of afront plate 14, a rear plate 15 and a connecting separator 16 (noteFIGS. 5-7). The plates 14 and 15 have the usual side guide flanges 17and 18, respectively. As is shown in the drawings, the slider body isalso provided with a pull tab lug 19 to which a pull tab 20 is movablyand pivotally connected by means of inwardly disposed, opposed,retaining projections 21 provided on the pull tab, as is conventional.Straddling the lug 19 and located between the attached end of the pulltab 20 and the front plate 14 of the slider, is a locking pawl or rockermember 22 having a locking tooth 23 which interlocks with the members 11to secure the slider against movement on the stringers 10.

The slider body in addition to having the conventional features abovedescribed, is provided. in the lower narrow end of its front plate 14,below the lug 19, with two rectangularly-shaped, transversely aligned,spaced cutouts or openings 25, 26. The locking tooth 23 of the pawl 22extends through the opening 25, and a guide member 27 projecting fromthe lower end of the pawl 22 in spaced parallel relation to the lockingtooth 23, extends into the opening 26. The guide member 27 is shorterthan the locking tooth 23, being only long enough to remain engaged withthe opening 26 throughout the range of movements of the locking tooth 23without coming into locking engagement with the interlocking members 11.The guide member 27 has a configuration similar to the correspondingportion of the locking tooth 23.

The lug 19, which is located above and centrally of the two transverselyspaced openings 25, 26, is formed from the material of plate 14 so thatit is integral there With, and has a lower outwardly projecting U-shapedportion which receives the retaining portions 21 of the pull tab. Theupper portion 28 of the lug 19 is located between the outer and innersurfaces of the plate- 14, and is reduced in thickness by removal of thematerial on its outer sur face so that there is formed a seat 29 of adepth approximating the thickness of the material in the pawl 22. Theplate 14 is pierced on each side of the lug 19 to form two elongated,rect-angularly-shaped openings 30, 30 which extend longitudinally of theplate 14 from the upper end of lug portion 28 to a place past themidpoint of the lower U-shaped projecting lug portion. The lower ends ofthe openings 30, 30 are defined by the upper ends of two square-shapedcoined areas 31, 31 which are as wide as the openings 30, 30 and extendto the lower end of the lug 19. The two areas have each been worked toprovide therein an outer inclined surface 32 which extends inwardly andupwardly from the outer surface of the plate 14 at the lower end of thelug 19 to the lower end of an opening 30. The coined areas 31, 31 andthe openings 30, 30 are substantially aligned with the openings 25 and26 for the locking tooth 23 and the guide member 27 (note FIG. 2)." p

The rocker member or locking pawl 22, as is shown more clearly in FIG.3, is a rectangular, ring or frameshaped member made from a thin sheetof resilient metal, such as spring steel, that has been punched toprovide a central opening through which extends the U-shaped projectingportion of the lug 19. This central opening is bordered by an uppertransverse bar 35, two longitudinally extending side bars 36, 36 and alower transverse bar 37 from which depend the locking tooth 23 and theguide member 27. The upper bar 35 extends across the upper Q ends of theopenings 30, 3'0 and sits in the seat 29 provided on the outer side ofthe lug portion 28. The two side bars 36, 36 extend lengthwise oftheopenings 30, 30 and o've'r the inclined outer surfaces 32, 32 of thecoined areas 31, 31. The two side bars 36, 36 are arcuatelyshaped'sothat they are enabled to rock on such inclined surfaces 32, 32. Thepawl 22 is bent in a convex fashion in the region of the lower bar 37 sothat the locking tooth 2 3 and guide member 27 are directed inwardlythrough the openings 25 and 26-, respectively. It will be noted fromFIG. 7 of the drawings, that the configuration "of the locking pawl 22is such that 'when the upper bar 35 thereof is positioned in the seat 29and such pawl is hanging on the upper end of the U-shaped projectingportion of lug 19, the locking tooth 23 and guide member 27 will be intheir fully withdrawn positions, thereby enabling the slider to movefreely down the stringers The locking pawl 22 is permanetly retained inposition on the slider by the pull tab 20 which is provided with twolongitudinally extending projections 40, 40 at its attached end that areengageable with such pawl during the manipulation of the pull tab in theuse of the device. When the slider is to be in a condition in which itcan readily be fed onto the stringers 10, It), or in which it is readilystrippabl'e, i.e., freely movable in the down or opening direction onthe stringers 10, 10, as during laundering operations, the pull tabshould be in the up or unlocked position shown in FIG. 7 of thedrawings. In this position of the pull tab, its outer surface issubstantially in engagement 'with the outer surface of the fiont 'plate14 and bears against the top bar 35 of the pawl 22 to maintain thelocking tooth 23 fully withdrawn as previously explained. When theslider is in the upright position, as when the garment is being worn,the pull tab will be maintained in thisu'p position by the engagement ofthe projections 10, 40 thereof with the lower portions of the pawl sides36, 36 and can only be moved from such position by a positive movementthereof against the spring-like resilience of the pawl 22.

While the slider is being positively moved on the stringers 10, 10,either upwardly or downwardly, the pull tab is gripped by the user audis disposed transversely to the slider body'as shown in FIG. 6 of thedrawings. In this position of the pull tab, the projections '40, 4tlthere of will bear down on the "sides 36, 36 of the pawl and press themagainstthe inclined outer "surfaces 32 of the coined areas 31, therebytending to retain the top bar 35 of the pawl 22in its seat 29 and thelocking tooth 23 retracted. Because ofthe contour of the pawl sides 36,36, the slope of the inclined "surfaces 32 and the openings 30, 30, theprojections 40, 10 will hold the locking pawl positioned so that thelocking tooth cannot move into locking relation with th'e interlockingmembers 11 throughout the pivotal movement of the pull tab 20 from itsup position shownin FIG. 7 to ado'wn position in which the under surfaceof the pull tab comes to rest on the convex portion of the locking pawl22 in the region of the lower bar 37 thereof.

is shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings, in the down posltion of the pull tab20, its pivotal axis will be shifted outwardly within the U-shapedprojecting portion of the 19 so that while such pull tab is parallel- 1ydisposed with relation to the front plate 14, its under surface will bespaced from the outer sruface of such plate. This shifting of the axialposition of the pulltab is rendered possible by reducing the thicknessof the retaining projections 21 on their outer surfaces so that thelatter are recessed with respect to the outer surface of the pull taband are unlike the under surfaces thereof which are flush with the undersurface of the pull tab. It will also be noted from FIG. 5 that in thisposition of the pull tab, the latter will under the gravity of itsweight, rock the locking pawl 22 on the inclined surfaces 32 to causethe top bar 35 thereof to move out of its seat '29 and enable thelocking tooth 23 to move into locking engagement with the interlockingmembers 11, thereby locking the slider in a fully or partiallyinterlocking position on the stringers 1t 10. The pull tab will beprevented from being inadvertently jiggled out of its depending lockingposition and until positively removed therefrom by the coaction of theprojections 40 thereof with the stainless steel rocker member. Due tothe fact, however, that the rocker member 22 is made of a resilient,spring-like thin metal it is possible to strip the slider, or cause itto ride down on and separate the interlocked members 11 of the closedstringers 1t 1t below the slider even though the pull tab 20 is in theaforesaid down position. This may be done by grasping the top portion ofeach stringer, one in each hand, and pulling in opposite directions witha force beyond that to which the stringers would be subjected to in thenormal use of the garment to which the fastener is applied. When such aforce is exerted, the locking tooth 23 which is in the nature of aspring finge'r having a blunt, or straight transverse terminal edge,will move out from its locking position and with a springing action skipfrom one spaced interlocking member to the other so long as such forceis applied and until the slider reaches the bottom of the fastener. Thisstrippable characteristic of the slider of this invention is of especialadvantage when garments having fasteners equipped with this slider arecarelessly handled in a commercial laundry during the performance ofwashing and pressing operations thereon. Many of the sliders orfasteners now being presently employed in garments must be replacedoften because of the treatment they receive while the garments are beingwashed and pressed in commercial laund'ries. The slider of thisinvention will substantially overcome this replacement problem nowcaused by commercial launmember 22 is readily made a permanent part ofthe slider by properly assembling the pull tab 20 on the lug 19 using asqueeze operation 'to etfcct the connection of the retaining projections21 thereof with the lug 19.

While I have herein'above described and shown in the accompanyingdrawings, 'a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be apparentto those skilled 'in the art that modifications thereof may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of theappended claims. Thus, instead of the openings 30, 30 and the coinedareas 31, 31, the plate 14 may be configured in any other suitablemanner to provide "an indentation of such depth and contour as to permitthe locking pawl or rocker member 22 to move in relation to the pull tab20 in the manner previously described as the latter moves arcuately toits fully open or unlocked position to disengage the locking tooth 23from the inter locking members 11, or to its fully closed or locked.position to engage the locking tooth 23 with the interlocking members11.

What is claimed is:

1. A locking slider for a slide fastener comprising a body having frontand rear plates, the front plate of which is provided with an opening atits lower end, a lug provided on the front plate of said body, a rockermember seated on 'said front plate and having an opening through whichsaid lug extends, the portions of said front plate underlying saidrocker member being configured to enable said rocker member to rocklongitudinally on said front plate, a locking tooth on the lower end of.said

a) rocker member and extending inwardly through said front plate openingto enable it to come into locking engage ment with the interlockingelements of the slide fastener, a pull tab pivoted on said lug andpermanently connecting said rocker member to the slider, said pull tabhav ing a portion bearing against said rocker member to maintain thelatter positioned on said underlying plate portions so that said lockingtooth is withdrawn from looking position when the pull tab is used tooperate the slider, such bearing relation of said pull tab portion beingdiscontinued and said pull tab pressing the lower end of said rockermember to cause said locking tooth to move inwardly to locking positionwhen said pull tab is released in its down position.

2. A locking slider such as defined in claim 1, in which said rockermember is configured to hang on said lug with said locking toothwithdrawn to unlocked position when said pull tab is in fully raisedposition with the pressure of said bearing portion thereof on saidrocker member discontinued, said pull tab in its down positiondisrupting such hanging relation of said rocker member on said lug.

3. A locking slider as defined in claim 1, in which said rocker memberis a rectangular, ring-shaped member made from a sheet of resilientmetal and having an upper transverse bar, two longitudinally extendingside bars, and a lower transverse bar, said side bars being concavelyshaped and constituting rocker bars on which said member rocks.

4. A locking slider as defined in claim 3, in which said locking toothextends downwardly from said lower transverse bar of said rocker member,and including a guide member extending downwardly from said lowertransverse bar in spaced parallel relation to said locking tooth, saidfront plate of said slider body having a second opening at its lower endarranged in transversely aligned, spaced relation to said firstmentioned opening for receiving said guide member.

5. A locking slider as defined in claim 3, in which the portions of saidfront plate underlying said rocker member comprise an inclined surfaceon each side of said lug and extending upwardly and inwardly from theouter surface of said front plate at the lower end of said lug.

6. A locking member as defined in claim 5, in which the upper ends ofsaid inclined surfaces form the lower edges of openings aligned withsuch surfaces and extending upwardly along the sides of said lug towardthe upper end of said lug.

7. A locking member as defined in claim 3, in which the upper end ofsaid lug is reduced in thickness to provide a seat for said uppertransverse bar of the rocker member.

8. A locking member as defined in claim 3, in which said bearing portionof said pull tab comprise a pair of longitudinal extensions projectingfrom the attached end of the pull tab and engageable with said concavelyshaped side bars of said rocker member.

9. A locking member as defined in claim 1, in which said pull tab isprovided with a pair of opposed projections pivotally connecting saidpull tab to said lug, said projections being reduced in thickness on theouter side thereof to enable the pivotal axis of said pull tab to beshifted relative to said front slider plate.

10. A locking member as defined in claim 7, in which the reduced upperend of said lug is located between the outer and inner surfaces of saidfront plate, said lug below said reduced upper end thereof beingsubstantially U-shaped.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,734,750 11/1929 Sundback24-20514 1,863,535 6/1932 PouX 24-205.14 2,520,496 8/ 1950 Deutsch24-205.14

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner.

1. A LOCKING SLIDE FOR A SLIDE FASTENER COMPRISING A BODY HAVING FRONTAND REAR PLATES, THE FRONT PLATE OF WHICH IS PROVIDED WITH AN OPENING ATITS LOWER END, A LUG PROVIDED ON THE FRONT PLATE OF SAID BODY, A ROCKERMEMBER SEATED ON SAID FRONT PLATE AND HAVING AN OPENING THROUGH WHICHSAID LUG EXTENDS, THE PORTIONG OF SAID FRONT PLATE UNDERLYING SAIDROCKER MEMBER BEING CONFIGURED TO ENABLE SAID ROCKER MEMBER TO ROCKLONGITUDINALLY ON SAID FRONT PLATE, A LOCKING TOOTH ON THE LOWER END OFSAID ROCKER MEMBER AND EXTENDING INWARDLY THROUGH SAID FRONT PLATEOPENING TO ENABLE IT TO COME INTO LOCKING ENGAGEMENT WITH THEINTERLOCKING ELEMENTS OF THE SLIDE FASTENER, A PULL TAB PIVOTED ON SAIDLUG AND PERMANENTLY CONNECTING SAID ROCKER MEMBER TO THE SLIDER, SAIDPULL TAB HAVING A PORTION BEARING AGAINST SAID ROCKER MEMBER TO MAINTAINTHE LATTER POSITIONED ON SAID UNDERLYING PLATE PORTIONS SO THAT SAIDLOCKING TOOTH IS WITHDRAWN FROM LOCKING POSITION WHEN THE PULL TAB ISUSED TO OPERATE THE SLIDER, SUCH BEARING RELATION OF SAID PULL TABPORTION BEING DISCONTINUED AND SAID PULL TAB PRESSING THE LOWER END OFSAID ROCKER MEMBER TO CAUSE SAID LOCKING TOOTHE TO MOVE INWARDLY TOLOCKING POSITION WHEN SAID PULL TAB IS RELEASES IN ITS DOWN POSITION.